


Before We Fall

by Biowarenerd



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood and Violence, Canon-Typical Violence, Dreams and Nightmares, Dungeon Crawling, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Implied Sexual Content, Inquisitor before he was Inquisitor, Max is still an ass sometimes, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre Breach, Racism, Sexual Content, Sexual Humor, elf racism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-08
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-15 08:36:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13609611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Biowarenerd/pseuds/Biowarenerd
Summary: Before the legend. Before all the fame. Before all the heroics. Before all the war. Before the Breach and Corypheus. Before the Inquisition, the Inquisitor was just a man. A man simply trying to survive in a harsh world that gives nothing out of kindness, with only a sly elf watching his back. What was supposed to be just another 'treasure hunt', turns out to be an adventure that puts them on the path to meet their destiny. See Max Trevelyn, before he was somebody worth mentioning.





	Before We Fall

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story that sheds some light on what Max and Siael got up to before the events of Inquisition (Dreams That Matter). If you like this story, I urge you to go read Dreams That Matter to fully understand this story.

CHAPTER ONE

 

Max, disowned son of the Trevelyns, leapt back with a shriek. His hands instantly went up to his face in a vain attempt to wipe the cobwebs he had just walked through, off. He spat as he could feel them over his mouth. Somehow, this always seemed to happen to him. 

“Watch out for those cobwebs.” Siael said purposely, knowing the warning was several seconds too late. 

Max frantically tried to pull all of the webs off his face, almost spasming as he did so. He hated spiders and always feared that one would land on him from the web. It was an irrational fear but a fear nonetheless. 

He coughed, rubbing his now webby hands on his pants. He glared at Siael. The elf was looking just a little too happy. “Thanks for the late warning. Really helped me out there.” He hissed at her.

She smiled, fluttering her deep lashes at him. “It's the fact that I thought to warn you that matters.”

Max snorted. “Uh huh. Sure. You know, one of these days a poisonous spider is going to bite me and I'll die because your  ‘warning’ came too late.”

Siael held her head high. “I resent that remark.”

Max groaned, but he was smiling. “Of course you do.”

The only reason why Max was getting a facefull of cobwebs in the first place was because the two were ‘adventuring’. Adventuring was what Max called ‘combing old elven ruins in hopes of finding some treasure that brigands had overlooked’. Adventuring sounded better than that and over time, it sort of just clicked.

“Remind me, what are we looking for again?” Max asked as he ducked under another cobweb. He normally didn't know what they were looking for down in places like this. Siael seemed to enjoy keeping him wondering. 

She kept walking without looking back at him. “I told you, we’re looking for something to pay for our food.”

Max grunted. “Yeah, I got that. I meant what-.” She cut him off.

“I know what you meant.”

“And you aren't deigning to give me a real answer?”

“Nope.” Siael said cheerfully.

Max growled but there really wasn't anything he could do. If Siael didn't want to tell you something, you don't hear it. There was no way for Max to get her to cough up the information. Well, there was  _ one  _ way but it was hardly the time or place to do it. 

Either way, it didn't matter too much to Max. He was fine with just getting food for the next week without having to go hunting for it. 

That was the idea. Siael would hear a rumor or learn of a new ruin from a traveler and the two would head to it as fast as they could. They would scout out the place, looking for any magical traps as the ancient elves were known to place wards around the entrances. Then they would head into the ruins in search of anything of value, return to any merchant to sell what they found and then buy supplies until they needed to go out again. All to buy food, clothes, and other necessities. But it was the best they could do. Max’s family has disowned him and thrown him out onto the streets with nothing but the clothes on his back and two daggers. Siael had joined him shortly after. She was once a servant for his family and the two were close friends growing up so when they kicked him out, she went with him. And the two had been wandering the land ever since. 

Siael raised her torch as they stepped out into a large room, casting the room in a dim light. She whistled at the sight laid out before them.

Piles of coins, gems, and baubles littered the floor. Gold spilled out of pots stacked on the sides of the room. Other relics were scattered around, as if the elves simply tossed them in without a care. The whole room combined had to be almost priceless. And it seemed untapped. Only they would only take a few things, marking the ruin down on a map with all the other ruins for future reference. They only needed enough money to get by, and so they only took what they needed.

Siael grinned. “Well, damn. I think we just struck gold.” She moved to pick up some riches but Max grabbed her shoulder, stopping her.

He coughed. “Glyphs.” He said with a nod towards the floor in front of them. 

Siael swallowed, realizing that he had just saved her life. She laughed nervously. “Heh, yeah. Thanks. I do  _ not  _ feel like being turned to paste today.”

Max snickered. “‘Today’?”

She nodded. “Yes. Being turned to paste is strictly something one does on a weekend.”

Max rolled his eyes and then took a closer look at the shimmering circle on the floor in front of them. It looked like an average glyph but something felt off about it. Like it had a secret it wasn't showing them. 

“Does that glyph look...weird, to you?” He asked.

Siael peered at it before shrugging. “Not really, no.”

Max scratched his chin. “I don't know. I've just got an odd feeling about it.”

Siael snickered. “Don't tell me: you've fallen in love with it. It's roundness is getting to you.”

Max groaned. “I'm just saying we should be careful.”

Siael smiled at him. “When are we not careful?”

He went to answer but she held up a hand. “Don't answer that.”

Siael stepped, very carefully, around the glyph. As she was doing so, she lost her footing on a pile of coins and the heel of her foot touched the edge of the glyph. Instantly, she jumped back. Only nothing happened. Normally, when some poor fool touches a glyph, it would explode, either with fire or ice. This glyph though, did nothing but glow a little brighter. 

Max blinked. “Is it broken?”

Siael stood up, albeit cautiously. “Glyphs don’t break.”

“Maybe something malfunctioned?”

Siael shook her head. “Have you ever come across a faulty glyph? No, it is definitely working though I can’t say what its doing.”

Max looked up and sighed. “I think I can say what it did.”

Siael looked up as well and cursed. In front of them stood four brutish spirits, taking the form of tall elves brandishing huge mauls as weapons. Each was advancing on them slowly.  _ This must be what the glyph did: summon some spirits to mess us up. _ Max thought shortly before grabbing his stilettos off of his back. Siael dropped her bow and brought out her throwing daggers. This was going to be a tough fight, that much was clear. 

The four elven spirits were about ten meters away when Siael threw her daggers. Years of dedication and practice made sure she never missed. The speed of her throws was just as formidable as her accuracy. In just a couple blinks, three of the four spirits had a dagger stuck in their heads. If they had been made of flesh, that would have been the end of the fight. The only problem was that they were not made of flesh; they were spirits and spirits were made of, well, whatever they are made of. 

They weren’t even fazed. 

Siael gulped. “You have got to shitting me.”

Max grunted. “Where’s a mage when you need one?”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Next chapter will be posted when its posted (but I'll try to keep them within a week or so). Please feel free to comment and let me know what you think so far!


End file.
